FIGC President confirms talks with Pep Guardiola over Italy National Team manager role | OneFootball

The Italian Football Federation has confirmed talks with former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola over the possibility of him becoming Italy’s next national team head coach, with FIGC president Giovanni Malagò acknowledging the discussions publicly for the first time, as per a new report.

Pep Guardiola departed the Etihad Stadium at the end of last season after a decade of extraordinary success that delivered six Premier League titles, the Champions League and 20 major trophies in total, leaving him as one of the most sought-after managerial figures in world football and immediately the subject of intense speculation over where he would choose to work next.

The 55-year-old had expressed a desire to experience international management before the conclusion of his career, and Italy’s vacancy – created when Gennaro Gattuso resigned following the country’s failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, their third consecutive absence from the tournament – represents one of the most significant managerial positions available anywhere in the world.

FIGC technical director Paolo Maldini is understood to have travelled to Barcelona to meet with Guardiola in person as part of the federation’s efforts to convince the Catalan to take charge of the Azzurri, a meeting that preceded Malagò’s public acknowledgement of the discussions and confirmed the seriousness with which Italian football’s governing body is pursuing one of the sport’s most decorated managers.

The vacancy places Guardiola alongside other candidates including former Italy coach Roberto Mancini – who led the Azzurri to Euro 2020 glory before a difficult spell in Saudi Arabia – and former midfielder Andrea Pirlo, with the federation understood to be continuing to evaluate alternatives in parallel with the Guardiola discussions in the event that an agreement cannot be reached.

Report: Malagò confirms FIGC opened dialogue with Guardiola despite financial obstacles

According to The Athletic, Malagò confirmed the discussions in remarks to Italian media, making the first official acknowledgement that the federation has formally opened dialogue with one of football’s most successful managers.

“Some exceptions have been made, particularly because of the name currently at the centre of these discussions, Pep Guardiola,” said Malagò. “But there are no guarantees the operation will succeed, even though we felt it was important to open dialogue and continue those conversations.”

The FIGC president’s reference to “exceptions” points to the financial reality of any potential deal – Guardiola’s salary demands are expected to significantly exceed the federation’s usual budget for a national team head coach, with the scale of compensation that attracted him during his club career unlikely to be replicated through conventional national federation structures.

Malagò was careful to emphasise that the pursuit of Guardiola has not precluded consideration of other candidates, with the federation continuing to assess alternative options as it seeks to identify the right figure to begin rebuilding Italy‘s international standing after what has become one of the most difficult periods in the country’s football history.

What would a Guardiola appointment mean for Italian football – and Man City’s legacy?

For Italian football, the appointment of Guardiola would represent a moment of extraordinary ambition – a federation willing to break its own financial conventions to secure the services of the man widely regarded as the finest club manager of the modern era, in a country that has missed three consecutive World Cups and whose reputation on the international stage has diminished markedly from the heights of the 2006 title.

The move would also serve as a fascinating postscript to Guardiola’s decade at the Etihad Stadium, placing one of the greatest managers in the club’s history into direct competition with the players he left behind – including Rodri, whose future at Manchester City remains the subject of significant speculation, and who would find himself facing his former manager should Guardiola take charge of Spain’s World Cup 2030 opponents in the European qualification cycle.

The talks also coincide with Enzo Maresca’s first pre-season in charge at the Etihad Stadium, placing the two most recent inheritors of City’s managerial tradition – Guardiola as departing icon, Maresca as arriving successor – simultaneously in the public eye at the precise moment when the next chapter of both their careers is being determined.

Whether Malagò’s confirmation of talks translates into a formal offer, and whether Guardiola’s personal ambitions align sufficiently with what the FIGC is realistically able to offer, remain the two central questions in a story that is likely to define the off-field landscape of international football for the remainder of the summer.